


Just Before The Dawn

by FictionalKnight (Northern_Star)



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Implied Relationships, Introspection, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-08
Updated: 2010-12-08
Packaged: 2017-10-13 14:11:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/138240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Star/pseuds/FictionalKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel watches as Batman is about to give himself up, and realizes some important things about her life when he doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Before The Dawn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Belle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belle/gifts).



Hiding safely in Bruce Wayne's apartment, where the Joker could not possibly get to her, Rachel Dawes watched the live telecast of the news conference where Batman was to turn himself in.

She watched as Harvey Dent told policemen to take the Batman into custody, fully expecting to see Bruce reveal to the world that he was the Batman. He'd told her that he would; face to face, eye to eye, and even though she'd told him that doing this might not keep the Joker from killing anyone else, Bruce had told her that he would turn himself in.

But when she heard Harvey declare that he was the Batman, and saw officers handcuff him, without Bruce ever stepping in and telling them the truth, Rachel stood staring at the television set in absolute, and heartbreaking disbelief. Not only had Bruce broken a promise he'd made, worse yet, he was willingly letting someone else take the fall in his place.

This, she realized, was truly not the man she knew. Mask or no mask, Batman or not, the man she'd once known was really gone for good. It was a different man who had returned after he'd vanished somewhere in Asia, and though Rachel had kept hope that somehow his getting rid of Batman might bring back the man that she loved, it was now plainly obvious that this would never happen.

He would never give up Batman, which meant that Bruce Wayne— _her_ Bruce—would never come back.

It was time to let go for good, Rachel told herself. It was time now, to turn that page and move on, once and for all. Time to stop dreaming of fairytale endings, of the dashing billionaire ever marrying the lovely pauper; time to stop thinking that Bruce Wayne could, and would _ever_ do anything but break her heart, over and over again.

Not that he purposefully tried, of course. He wasn't like that at all. No; he was a good, decent man, with only the best intentions at heart. However, with everything he did, and in every way he did them, Bruce constantly managed to leave her standing alone, miserable, her heart bruised and battered—and he never seemed to ever realize it at all.

She couldn't blame him for the fact that, after his parents' murder, her mother hadn't been needed at Wayne Manor anymore, and they'd had to leave. He wasn't responsible for any of it, but this was still the first of a long list of heartbreaking moments in their 'relationship'.

Until then, she'd always thought she was special to him—he made her _feel_ special, like she wasn't just some girl whose mother worked for his family, but so much more than that. However, the way he'd just waved goodbye from his bedroom window after the funeral that morning, not even bothering to say goodbye in person, knowing full well Rachel wouldn't come back after then, had hurt quite a bit. Whatever might have once been special about her had seemed to be lost, and she was just someone leaving after the memorial service, like everyone else, and it didn't seem to matter one bit to him that she wasn't going to come back the next day, or any other after that.

She could, however—and did—blame him for bringing along a firearm to Joe Chill's hearing; for wanting revenge, when she worked so hard for justice.

She could blame him just as much for disappearing into thin air just days later. For years he hadn't bothered to tell anyone where he was—as though he couldn't imagine anyone might care to know. He'd been gone so long, he'd been declared dead, and every shred of hope she'd had that he might someday show up in Gotham again had been crushed. She'd cried so much that day; and now she blamed him for not having the heart to think of anyone but himself, for letting them think he was dead, and for letting her cry over his passing.

And she sure as hell could blame him, when he'd come back, for having turned into a vapid, hollow billionaire who, instead of using his resources for good, the way his father always had, spent his money on expensive hotels, and went swimming in decorative pools with whatever floosie he could pick up.

Granted, he hadn't done any of these things to hurt her specifically. Rachel knew that. But he'd done them all the same, and every little bit had hurt. Every little moment, every little disappointment had further shattered an already broken heart.

Bruce had redeemed himself in a certain way, of course. He'd saved her life when she'd been poisoned, putting his own life in jeopardy, as she'd later learned. And he hadn't saved just her, either. He'd saved an entire city's worth of people. Better yet, it hadn't been just a lone occurrence, a one-time deal. No; Bruce went out day after day, or rather night after night, suiting up as his vigilante alter-ego, and fought crime with his own two hands. When he could have just walked away and ignored it all, instead, he did something about it.

Except, he did so as Batman. He did so while letting everyone believe that Bruce Wayne was just a self-centered, egocentric rich man, letting _those_ actions define him, rather than show the world his true face.

And as long as Bruce had Batman, Rachel had known that she would never have Bruce.

But when he'd promised her that he was going to turn himself in—never mind the implications, that he'd be going straight to jail and that they'd likely never be together after then—Rachel had hoped that perhaps, finally, this was the beginning she'd longed for, all these years.

But no... Bruce hadn't given up Batman, breaking her heart all over again.

Bruce would never give up Batman, which was why Rachel now needed to give up Bruce.

So, taking in a deep breath that served to calm her as much as to strengthen her resolve, Rachel reached into a nearby desk and pulled out paper and pen. It was time now to say yes to one man, and goodbye to the other.

For while she loved Bruce Wayne, and knew that in his own way, he loved her too, Harvey Dent, on the other hand, was the only one who loved her enough that he would never break her heart.

/End.


End file.
